With the new fashion assistant, customers will be able to navigate through Zalando’s assortment using their own words or fashion terms, making the process more intuitive and natural. This could be combined in the future with customer preferences, such as brands they follow and products available in their sizes, to deliver a more personalised selection of products, Zalando said in a press release.

With its answers, Zalando’s fashion assistant will provide customers with relevant products, enabling them to have ongoing conversations to refine their results. The first beta version will be enabled for a selected group of customers by spring, with support in both English and German, and be made available in Germany, Ireland, the UK, and Austria. This technology will introduce a new way to discover Zalando’s assortment and provide customers with more intuitive fashion inspiration.

Tian Su, vice president, personalisation and recommendation at Zalando, said: “At Zalando, our customers have always been at the centre of everything we do. As a leader in fashion e-commerce in Europe for 15 years, we have consistently embraced new technologies to enhance our customers’ shopping experience. We are excited to be experimenting with ChatGPT to help our valued customers discover even more fashion they will love.

“This is just the beginning; we are committed to understanding our customers’ needs and preferences even better, and we are eager to explore the potential that ChatGPT can bring to their shopping journey. As we continue testing and introducing new solutions, our focus remains on learning how our customers want to interact with our fashion assistant to provide them with the best possible experience.”

With the upcoming launch of the first version of its fashion assistant, Zalando is setting the groundwork for future developments and features, which could include fashion and beauty advice or outfit creation.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)